“Do you know, I don’t think I’ve ever been called beautiful before.” He smiled at her.
“There is always a first time for most things, my lord,” Milly replied as she moved on to greet his family.
She had always liked his brothers. They laughed and joked, but the love the four siblings shared was never in doubt.
“How lovely it is to see you again,” Charles said.
“Yes, I remember now, you sat on my sofa just last week and drank tea, didn’t you, sir?”
“I did.” He gave her a wide smile. “And may I say, your cook’s cherry cake is unsurpassed.”
“I shall be sure to tell her.”
“You told Lord Coombs his cook’s cherry cake was the best last week,” his brother said.
“And they are off,” Eleanor said, coming forward. “They will now argue until the opera begins.”
“Good evening, my lady.”
“My name is Ellie, Millicent. Please use it.” She looked beautiful in a dress of deep gold.
“I shall try. But please, call me Milly. I find I am no longer a Millicent.”
Ellie patted her hand. “I like Milly. And now you must meet my husband. Louis, this is Lady Millicent.”
“My lady.”
Tall and well-built, Lord Thurston had a lovely smile, and hair the color of dried oak leaves. Not quite red, and not quite brown, but somewhere in between.
“It is a delight to meet you at last.”
“Thank you.”
The smile he gave her was genuine, and the one he turned on his wife loving. She felt a small twinge of jealousy that she would never receive smiles like that from the man she loved.
Milly had come to realize that she no longer wished to have someone control her or tell her what she could or could not do. Freedom was not something anyone really ever had, but there were degrees of it, she had come to understand. Small allotments of freedom, such as eating what she liked when she liked. Spending all day reading should she chose to, and travelling the country if the need struck. She’d never hoped to have this, but now she did, she had no wish to relinquish it.
They soon took their seats, and Milly wasn’t sure if it was by design or chance that she was seated beside Joseph.
“My family, and your aunt, think it would be best if we sat together, to show people that there is no ill will between us.” His breath brushed her cheek.
“Oh, yes, I had not thought of that.”
“Do you know, I think those cheek rolls enhanced your features.”
Milly actually spluttered at his words.
“No really, and the glasses, and mud-brown hair. It was a pleasing look. This”—he let his eyes roam from her face down to her slippers and back up again—“is not nearly as appealing.”
“Ha” was all she could manage, as the heat from his gaze was making her tingle all over.
“Very eloquent.”
“If you’ll remember, along with cursing, I now also add pig wrangling to my repertoire. I have had little time in the last few years to be eloquent.”
“I shall keep that in mind if I need my pigs wrangled.”
He was teasing her, and she felt that silly fluttering inside her that she once had. Looking forward, she reminded herself she no longer wanted that, or indeed him.
